If you’re learning about containerization at scale, you need a Kubernetes course.
Kubernetes is the leading orchestration platform today, making it an in-demand skill for anyone in DevOps or who wants to get into DevOps. If you’re currently learning about containerization, enterprise-grade solutions, and scalability, you need to know about Kubernetes.
Luckily, Kubernetes is a fairly easy solution to learn — most advanced developers will be able to learn the basics of Kubernetes within a few evenings, although it may take much longer to master.
We’ve made a list of the best online Kubernetes courses, ranging from beginner to advanced.
Which Kubernetes Course is Right for You?
In general, there are a few types of Kubernetes courses to choose from. Which Kubernetes course is best for you depends on where you are in your career and what your career goals are. There are:
- Beginner courses, which give you the basics of how to use Kubernetes from scratch.
- Kubernetes and Docker courses, which cover containerization and orchestration together.
- Kubernetes certification courses — a Kubernetes certification course will focus primarily on what you need to know to pass certification.
- Advanced or niche Kubernetes courses, which might include a certified Kubernetes security specialist course or an AWS Kubernetes course.
There’s no universal “best Kubernetes course.” If you need to learn Docker, you need a Docker and Kubernetes course. If you already know Kubernetes, but need to dig deeper into security, you need a Kubernetes security course.
What follows are the best courses available online — depending on your needs and specialization.
1. Kubernetes for the Absolute Beginners - Hands-On (Udemy)
Kubernetes for the Absolute Beginners covers all the fundamental knowledge you need to know about Kubernetes, from the perspective of someone who has never touched Kubernetes before.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to deploy Kubernetes on the cloud, how to configure it, how to deploy applications through it, how to set up ReplicaSets, and how to manage services and deployments through Kubernetes.
Course specifications:
- Level: Beginner
- Cost: $124.99 (Promotions available)
- Contains:
- 5.5 hours of on-demand video
- 1 downloadable resource
- 14 articles
- 37 coding exercises
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
2. Learning Kubernetes (LinkedIn Learning)
This simple course introduces developers to the Kubernetes environment, first walking them through the process of getting it up and running using Minikube. From there, developers will be able to deploy a sample application, manage it with the Kubernetes dashboard, and manage more advanced databases and APIs.
Topics covered include cron jobs, run jobs, production deployment, namespaces, monitoring and logging, and authentication and authorization security features.
Course specifications:
- Level: Beginner
- Cost: $39.99
- Contains:
- 33 videos
- 1 project file
- 6 chapter quizzes
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
3. Kubernetes: Basic Architecture and First Deployment (Coursera)
Designed for the “absolute beginner” to Kubernetes, Coursera offers a unique “guided project” that walks users through the process of creating a real-world Kubernetes Deployment. Users will be able to create a cluster and a service to expose the cluster to outside connections. Within this 2 hour course which includes split-screen video, users will learn what Kubernetes is, how to use nodes, pods, and objects, and how to write their first deployment.
Course specifications:
- Level: Beginner
- Cost: $39/month (Coursera Library)
- Contains:
- 2 hours of content
- 1 guided project
- Certificate of Completion: No
4. A Practical Guide to Kubernetes (Educative.io)
In A Practical Guide to Kubernetes, developers already well-versed in DevOps are able to learn the fundamentals of Kubernetes and the main components of a cluster. Students will learn how to run pods, how to manage ReplicaSets, how to communicate between services, and how to deploy releases. They will also learn the basics of Ingress and Ingress controllers, volumes, ConfigMaps, secrets, namespaces, and resource management.
Course specifications:
- Level: Intermediate
- Cost: $49/year
- Contains:
- 10 modules
- 20 hours of video
- 175 lessons
- 14 quizzes
- 860 code snippets
- 76 illustrations
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
5. Getting Started with Google Kubernetes Engine (Coursera)
Part of the Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Cloud DevOps Engineer Professional Certificate path, this Coursera course can either be taken alone or along with the learning path lessons. Students will learn about how to use Google Cloud compute platforms, how to store container images in the Container Registry, how to use Kubernetes, and how to manage Kubernetes workloads.
Course specifications:
- Level: Intermediate
- Cost: $39/month (With Coursera Library)
- Contains:
- 11 hours of material
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
6. Architecting with Google Kubernetes Engine Specialization (Coursera)
Another course offered by Google Cloud through Coursera, the Architecting with Google Kubernetes Engine Specialization is an advanced course intended to help you understand the differences between Google Cloud compute platforms, understand the components and architecture of Kubernetes, and more.
This specialization includes an applied learning project and hands-on labs, helping individuals learn more about the Google Compute Engine, Google App Engine, Google Cloud Platform, and Cloud Computing overall.
Course specifications:
- Level: Beginner
- Cost: $39/month (Coursera Library)
- Contains:
- 2 months of lessons
- 4 total courses
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
7. Getting Started With Kubernetes (PluralSight)
Getting Started with Kubernetes is focused primarily on getting you started as soon as possible and as quickly as possible. If you’re already a knowledgeable, talented DevOps professional who just wants to learn more about containerization at scale, Getting Started with Kubernetes will get you where you need to be as quickly and effectively as possible. It includes the big picture view of how it works, how to install it, how to deploy it, and how to manage services and security.
Course specifications:
- Level: Intermediate
- Cost: Free Trial, $299 per year (PluralSight Library).
- Contains:
- 6 modules
- Certificate of Completion: No
8. Kubernetes Essential Training: Application Development (LinkedIn Learning)
For the Kubernetes Essential Training class, you should ideally have some knowledge of Kubernetes. This class is designed to take that knowledge “from theory to practice,” by showing you how to develop Kubernetes in real-world scenarios.
At the end of this course, you should be able to run clusters, containers, and pods, know how to execute commands — and be able to view information on the Kubernetes dashboard as well as the command line. Orchestration, workload management, and automation are all touched upon in this comprehensive class.
Course specifications:
- Level: Intermediate
- Cost: $29.99
- Contains:
- 41 videos
- 1 project file
- 6 chapter quizzes
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
9. Learn DevOps: The Complete Kubernetes Course (Udemy)
For those who want to develop their DevOps skills, the Learn DevOps: The Complete Kubernetes Course lesson plan will cover a lot of ground. This course includes being able to run stateless and stateful applications, using StatefulSets, using volumes, packaging applications with Helm, using the Docker Client, and being able to scale apps using metrics. Once done with this course, DevOps engineers will know more about Kubernetes, Docker, and Jenkins, and will be able to use Istio to deploy service meshes using Kubernetes.
Course specifications:
- Level: Advanced
- Cost: $39.99 (Promotions Available)
- Contains:
- 14 hours of video
- 1 downloadable resource
- 1 article
- 2 practice tests
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
10. Exam Tips: Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) (LinkedIn Learning)
Want to really step up your knowledge of Kubernetes? You might want to take the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam. But before you do that, you’ll need to study for it. This LinkedIn Learning class gives you everything you need to know about becoming a CKA, covering the 10 domains that are tested throughout. That includes application lifecycle management, installing and configuring systems, validating systems, and the core concepts of networking and scheduling.
Course specifications:
- Level: Advanced
- Cost: $34.99
- Contains:
- 17 videos
- 1 project file
- 2 chapter quizzes
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
11. Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide (Udemy)
In Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide, DevOps professionals can learn more about both Docker and Kubernetes, when they would use them, and how they would be used together. This lesson includes how to create images and containers through the Docker platform, how to deploy those applications through Kubernetes (or through Docker itself), and how to install both Docker and Kubernetes and configure the solutions. This practical guide walks students through everything they need to know about Kubernetes and Docker basics.
Course specifications:
- Level: Advanced
- Cost: $109.99
- Contains:
- 16 Sections
- 259 Lectures
- 23 hours and 38 minutes of content
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
12. Managing Apps on Kubernetes with Istio (PluralSight)
Once you know Kubernetes, you need to know how to complete other advanced and specific tasks — such as developing a service mesh. In Managing Apps on Kubernetes with Istio, you learn how to manage the communication between multiple software components, over a distributed service mesh architecture. This lesson requires that you know a little about Docker and Kubernetes first, but it’s extremely valuable for DevOps professionals looking to deploy and manage large enterprise environments to scale.
Course specifications:
- Level: Advanced
- Cost: $299.99 (PluralSight Library)
- Contains:
- 3 hours 34 minutes of content
- 5 modules
- Interactive demos
- Certificate of Completion: No
13. Managing Kubernetes Controllers and Deployments (PluralSight)
An advanced administrative course, Managing Kubernetes Controllers and Deployments shows administrators how they are able to use controllers more effectively. Users will be able to create self-healing applications, will learn more about many critical Kubernetes functions (deployments, DaemonSets, StatefulSets, Jobs, and CronJobs), how to select the right controller types, and how to both maintain and deploy container-based applications throughout the cluster.
Course specifications:
- Level: Intermediate
- Cost: $299.99 (PluralSight Library)
- Contains:
- 2 hours 48 minutes of content
- 4 Sections
- Certificate of Completion: No
14. Introduction to Containers w/ Docker, Kubernetes, & OpenShift (Coursera)
Offered by IBM through Coursera, this comprehensive introduction includes Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift technology — perfect for the DevOp who is looking to learn new skills and increase their marketability. This flexible course is a beginner-level introduction that is also a part of multiple programs: the IBM Full Stack Cloud Developer Professional Certificate and the DevOps and Software Engineering Professional Certificate. While it’s a bit broader than just Kubernetes and Docker, it’s also a great first step toward developing your DevOps skills.
Course specifications:
- Level: Beginner
- Cost: $39/month (Coursera Library)
- Contains:
- 12 hours of material
- 4 weeks of coursework
- Certificate of Completion: Yes
Getting Started with Kubernetes
Kubernetes is an advanced DevOps technology. Today, the market for DevOps is changing swiftly, with more applications moving to the cloud — and larger scale, larger enterprise solutions being deployed all the time.
If you want to learn more about Kubernetes, you have a lot of options in terms of coursework. But there are also other technologies you may need to learn that are related to Kubernetes: Docker, Istio, OpenShift, YAML, and more.
To really get a good overview of the technologies involved, you may want to go to a DevOps BootCamp or through the Kubernetes certification path. And in addition to a Kubernetes course online, you can also take a look at some simple Kubernetes tutorials.
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